Page 111 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

fight, and, if he was not prevented, throwing bottles. It was
at this stage that he made his speech—for he made a patri-
otic speech every Saturday night. The speech was always the
same, word for word. It ran:

‘Citizens of the Republic, are there any Frenchmen here? If
there are any Frenchmen here, I rise to remind them—to
remind them in effect, of the glorious days of the war. When
one looks back upon that time of comradeship and heroism—
one looks back, in effect, upon that time of comradeship and
heroism. When one remembers the heroes who are dead—one
remembers, in effect, the heroes who are dead. Citizens of the
Republic, I was wounded at Verdun—‘

Here he partially undressed and showed the wound he
had received at Verdun. There were shouts of applause. We
thought nothing in the world could be funnier than this
speech of Furex’s. He was a well-known spectacle in the
quarter; people used to come in from other BISTROS to
watch him when Us fit started.
The word was passed round to bait Furex. With a wink to
the others someone called for silence, and asked him to sing
the ‘Marseillaise’. He sang it well, in a fine bass voice, with
patriotic gurgling noises deep down in his chest when he
came to ‘AUX ARRMES, CITOYENS! FORRMEZ VOS BA-
TAILLONS!’ Veritable tears rolled down his cheeks; he was
too drunk to see that everyone was laughing at him. Then,
before he had finished, two strong workmen seized him
by either arm and held him down, while Azaya shouted,

110 Down and Out in Paris and London